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France Reels From Unrest As Emmanuel Macron Condemns Rioters; Saudi Defense Minister Meets With UAE President In Abu Dhabi; Potential Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin-Xi Jinping Meeting Raises Ukraine Tensions; Today: Trump Kicks Off Week-Long Campaign Blitz In Kansas; Elon Musk To Give A SpaceX Share To "Every Kid In America". Aired 10-11a ET
Aired October 19, 2026 - 10:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:28]
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And Welcome to the second hour of the show from our Middle East programming headquarters. I'm Becky Anderson
in Abu Dhabi. Time here just after 6:00 in the evening, it is 4:00 p.m. in France, which is reeling from a weekend of chaos after nationwide protests
spiraled into riots. Going to get you straight to Paris.
And we are following a show of defiance from Ukraine. It launched one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia this year, despite the U.S. president's
demand that it stop hitting Russian energy infrastructure. We're going to break down how that could affect recent peace efforts.
And with just over two weeks until the U.S. midterms, President Trump hitting seven states in seven days, and they are all red states he carried
in 2024. A sign of his party's struggles with voters who are frustrated by the cost of living.
Well, France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Albania, across Europe, protesters have been taking to the streets to show their anger over everything from
education shortfalls to housing crises to spiraling inflation, and in some cases, those protests have turned violent. France cleaning up today after
the worst rioting there in years. One tourist describes parts of the capital as a war zone. President Emmanuel Macron says those who caused the
damage must pay, and is also promising to hold meetings to address the protesters' concerns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): These demonstrators expressed concern about the cost of living and fuel prices, which stem from
the conflict that began in the Persian Gulf, a conflict in which France has taken no part, but whose consequences we are suffering.
Those who destroyed property must pay. Those who looted must reimburse the damage. Those who sought to bring down the republic will be held
accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Melissa Bell is in Paris, and she has more now on the fallout from a weekend of violence in France and the difficult decisions
facing the country's leadership moving forward.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here at Place de la Republique, where so much of the rioting and looting took place on Saturday
night and again on Sunday, with those fresh clashes that involve rioters and police. The clean-up operation continues, as it does in other French
cities.
A great deal of anger being expressed by the mayors of some of France's biggest cities this Monday, given the police response, or rather the lack
of an adequate police response, and given the extensive damage that the country's seen.
We've been hearing from the French president on Sunday night a great deal of criticism about what President Macron had to say and how few concrete
concessions or solutions he was suggesting.
Politicians from across the political spectrum have really turned on that address to the nation as really not meeting what people were expecting to
hear. Concrete decisions about what could be done. We've been hearing also this money from the prime minister about his fears for the next few months.
MACRON (through translator): This raises several questions for us. The first being how to protect this very democratic framework, the presidential
election. There's no way we will allow violent minorities to impose an agenda of violence and prevent us from holding this election.
For me, this raises the issue of candidate safety, personal safety. It raises the issue of safety at campaign rallies, regardless of the political
parties.
BELL: That election is just six months away, President Macron will stand down, and it is the void really left by his centrist policies over the last
few years that's attracted a lot of debate and a lot of anger.
The rise also of the extremes, the fact that the far right leads the polls, the fact that the far left is making such progress in the polls, is
considered sort of fertile ground for a particularly polarized presidential campaign. And as authorities fear potentially much more of these kinds of
protests ahead. Already, the Yellow Vest, who were here last Saturday, are planning a fresh protest next Saturday.
Melissa Bell CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, Sophie Pedder is in the Paris bureau. She's chief -- she's Paris bureau chief, an Economist, and she joins us now from the French
capital. Thank you, Sophie, for joining us.
France, of course, has a long history of protests. These scenes of arson, looting and thousands of arrests, quite frankly, are still extraordinary.
And what do you believe has made this moment so combustible?
[10:05:11]
SOPHIE PEDDER, PARIS BUREAU CHIEF, THE ECONOMIST: I think it's the lead up to the French presidential election, you know, we have had, like him or
not, Emmanuel Macron as president for the last decade, and there is real uncertainty about what comes next. The poll favorite is Marine Le Pen on
the far right. Another strong contender is Jean-Luc Melenchon on the far left, and there's this feeling in the center that the candidates aren't
quite compelling enough, and aren't managing to make a sort of breakthrough.
So, there is a huge amount of tension, polarized politics, a sense that of uncertainty too, I would say, and all of that at a time when, like
everywhere else in Western democracies, there is real pressure on budgets, both household budgets, government budgets, price of cost of living,
etcetera. So, it is a particularly tense moment, and it will be for the next six months.
ANDERSON: I'm really interested about where this sort of you know the polarization in France at this point. Jean-Luc Melenchon, who was the far
left candidate for next year's election, posting the following, "Do not listen to the prime minister's speech calling for people to choose his
"camp," the word is detestable.
The choice lies between a population and its youth plunged into a deep crisis and a government that continues to use the same methods: attrition
and blind violence," he says. "The government is solely responsible. It has failed to organize the maintenance of public order."
What do you make of that? And is this a left-right issue at this point?
PEDDER: Well, it's a far left-far right issue at this point because what you're getting is both of them blaming the government and the center for
failing to control things and bring France back under control.
On the far left, it's very easy to criticize the police. It's very easy to criticize the government because there have been problems with some of the
heavy-handed tactics used by the police.
But on the far right, if you listen to their discourse, it's exactly the opposite, that the police haven't been tough enough, that the government
hasn't deployed enough police, even the government itself has recognized that the police were not able to get, they'd underestimated the scale of
the protests at the weekend, and they failed to put enough police on the streets.
So, it is an absolutely polarized debate, with the government caught in the middle, being blamed on all sides for everything.
ANDERSON: Macron, of course, can't run again. You know, and he's president, of course. Is this the collapse of that political center in France? I mean,
recent polls showing Marine Le Pen on the right, on the far right, could be almost certain to win if she faces Jean-Luc Melenchon next year.
PEDDER: Polls indeed show that. They also show that if you test a number of potential candidates from the center, that she would also beat them by much
smaller margin.
I mean, the great difficulty for the center is that, first of all, you know, they are competing from a sort of position of incumbency because
President Macron is unpopular, he's been there for 10 years, and people want to change.
But the difficulty is that the change, you know, the strongest contenders, promising change, are now on the extremes. There are candidates at the
center. They have very little time left to sort of get themselves together and make a more compelling offer to French voters and persuade people that
they could do better and bring things under both or bring things under control and put France on the right track, but it's a very difficult
message. That centrist, more moderate message, is a very difficult message to get across in these -- the era that we live in, where populist messages
are much easier.
ANDERSON: And the President Macron calls this a political firestorm. He explicitly blamed Iran war fuel costs. The Iran war, of course, is driving
up energy costs. But France already struggling with debt, large debt, a large budget deficit. Do you think it's fair to say that the conflict, the
regional conflict, where I am here in the Gulf, is accelerating a crisis that was coming anyway?
PEDDER: Well, I mean, France was under pressure because, indeed, as you point out, its public finances are in difficulty. The bond market is quite
skeptical about France, and it's trying to push through a budget by a minority government that doesn't have any space to make -- to do anything
sort of other than make cuts, and that's not going down well anyway.
But on top of that, the crisis in the Middle East, the crisis in the Gulf, the general feeling that people's budgets are now being even further
squeezed by the high cost of petrol at the pump is indeed making things a lot more difficult.
I mean, just one further thing I would add to all of this is that there is also, you know, some -- these protests that have turned violent. There have
been infiltrators and sort of organized elements who have been trying to engineer a form of chaos. And the violence is not just a kind of
spontaneous protest by students. It's partly that, but also the violent side of it is also quite organized, and that tells you also about the
polarization of the politics here.
[10:10:18]
ANDERSON: Yes, no, that's a really important point, and thank you.
Look, as we speak, Emmanuel Macron is on or is scheduled to tour the Gulf, where I am, in Kuwait, as far as I'm aware, and will go on to Bahrain after
that. You know, it's difficult times, of course, here in the Gulf.
As I understand, he'll be here in the UAE, where our show is based. After that, what's he hoping to achieve here, and what does the timing tell us
about France's priorities?
PEDDER: Well, I mean, he would make the link between his diplomatic efforts in the Gulf to talk about how to bring down the world oil price and the
problems on the street for people, not the students directly, but for people who are finding it difficult to pay for their petrol to get their
themselves to work.
So, I think that for him, this is sort of the high politics or the high diplomacy end of the same struggle. That is to say, you know, trying to
ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, trying to find a way to bring out the oil by different routes and generally trying to sort of
bring get the diplomacy of that effort on track.
But obviously, for a French president, the levers are pretty limited, and it's going to be very difficult for him to have any impact. But that's what
he's trying to do, and that's how he, I think, would defend what he's doing in the Gulf at a time when France is, you know, experienced such a lot of
violence on the streets.
ANDERSON: Sophie. It's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed.
We were talking about the affordability crisis there in Europe. We've been talking about that affordability crisis in the U.S. We know that the
problems exacerbated by the high price of oil, which seeps through, of course, to energy prices elsewhere. We are keeping an eye on oil. Brent
crude, the global benchmark, is slightly lower today after touching $110 on the barrel Friday for the first time since May.
WTI, the U.S. benchmark, remains above $100 on the barrel. Energy traders blaming fears about oil supplies. Well, security top of the agenda as Saudi
Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met with the UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed here in Abu Dhabi.
Observers say the high-level meeting focused on Houthi attacks and the relationship between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Joining me now here in CNN's Abu
Dhabi studios is Mohammed Soliman. He's a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, where he focuses on the intersection of sort of technology,
geopolitics, and business in the Middle East and other markets.
And it's good to have you, Mohammed. Thank you very much indeed. We've just heard about KBS, as he's known, the defense minister in Saudi, brother of
the Crown Prince. His meeting here with the UAE president and other people in leadership here in the UAE.
What do you make of that meeting coming as it does at a time when Saudi is under such a threat, we've seen an escalation from the Houthis there, we
have known for some time that the relationship between the UAE and Saudi, the two main Gulf powers, has been difficult at best. What do you make of
the images that we've seen and this clear meeting of the two at this point?
MOHAMMED SOLIMAN, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Becky, thank you for having me. I think you're absolutely on point here when it comes to the
meaning of the meeting. I think the meeting is significant because there's more that unites Saudi Arabia and the UAE today when it comes to the Yemen
file than before.
The Houthis clearly pipe (ph) has certain thresholds when it comes not only Saudi security but Gulf security and turning this war into a two-front war
on behalf of Iran and the IRGC.
Right now, the Saudis have to bring more countries to this coalition to make sure that they're able to fight against the Houthis, having more boots
on the ground, support for the Yemeni forces underground to fight Houthis, bringing more assets, specifically our defense systems and ammunition. And
I think having this meeting in Abu Dhabi is extremely important in bringing those two powers together when it comes to Yemen file.
ANDERSON: We know that the Saudis, the Kingdom, has been asking for more support from the U.S. very specifically air power support. We know that the
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he is thinking about what he might do next with regard support for Saudi.
We haven't seen it yet, although we have, to your point, seen a sort of building coalition of international support: Turkey, Pakistan. We now hear
about Egypt looking to put some boots on the ground. This meeting that we've seen here between these two Gulf powers, France, the U.K., and Italy,
also getting involved.
[10:15:12]
The Saudi foreign minister has met his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, where they discussed regional tensions and marine security. And Lavrov
going to Tehran today. You know, you and I watch these sort of revolving doors, these diplomatic meetings going on, not just in this region but
around the world. Again, what do you make of the significance of the Lavrov sort of intervention here?
SOLIMAN: Few things. A, and it's no longer speculation. The Russians have supplied the Iranians with equipments and targeting capacity at the early
month of the war, and they're responsible indirectly and directly about some of the hits that took place in the Gulf. I'm sure that this was --
ANDERSON: On the bases and the other infrastructure in the Gulf.
SOLIMAN: The U.S. bases and assets in the region. This is not traditional capacity that Iranians have on their own.
B, right now we're at a different level of escalation. Now we have a Yemen escalation that's part of the broader war. I am sure there is a
conversation around de-escalation, around containing Iranian aggression, around the question of proxies, because no longer just a small proxy group.
We're talking about a double whammy effect.
And let me say that, Gulf security is a global security. This situation that we're having at hand right now is causing what you have talked about
when it comes to France, when it comes to Europe, when it comes to Asian markets. Countries are going to react to this crisis differently, and
they're willing to deploy forces because this war now is taking longer than it was anticipated and expected, and the consequences are dire on the
social economic conditions of those democracies.
ANDERSON: And I think it's important to listen to what is said around this region. Not least, for example, from Qatar, some warnings over the past
week that, you know, brace yourselves. These things, this could get worse, a lot worse, and could go on for some time.
And as you rightly point out, you know what's going on in the Gulf doesn't stay in the Gulf. The impact is global. The Gulf states, of course, trying
to protect their economies while maintaining their long-term ambitions. There have been concerns over a global bond spillover as well.
You know, interest rates going higher, which means debt is more expensive to finance. How much should global investors or markets worry about Gulf
sovereign wealth funds potentially pulling back at this point?
SOLIMAN: I am not personally worried about the Gulf sovereign wealth fund for the next year. I think they are long horizon investors. I think they
are smart about their money. They made good and excellent bets on some of the big companies that they're investors in, like from Anthropic to OpenAI
to the other companies that are having high return on their own investment, and I think they made it clear that they're going to continue with the
commitments that they have for 2027.
However, this being said, the longer this continues, the longer this becoming the norm is going to have an impact because you need to figure out
your budget, your salaries, what you're going to do when it comes to the reconstruction bills. If, for the worst case scenario, things is close
beyond what we have today, so this is scenario that they have to plan for.
ANDERSON: Yes, these sovereign wealth funds, you know, tend to be sort of long term, what we might call sort of endowment investors. They're sort of
invested outbound. This is about, you know, investing today's wealth for tomorrow.
SOLIMAN: Exactly.
ANDERSON: But we are seeing examples, Kuwait, for example, of these monies needing to be divested and brought back in order to support the domestic
economy. And as you rightly point out, let's watch this space. Fine for now, maybe across the Gulf, but we should watch for what happens in 27 if
this continues.
Let's stay on A.I. for a moment because that is one of the big bets. Certainly, the UAE has made in using some of its Gulf sovereign wealth
fund, invested very specifically in the states, but also, you know, in both here in the UAE and elsewhere.
We've seen during this conflict that data centers are now potential military targets. You're on a panel recently where Nvidia reaffirmed its
long-term commitment to the Gulf, saying the Iran conflict has not changed its plans for A.I. and infrastructure investment in the region. Does that
confidence, do you believe, reflect the Gulf's underlying appeal as a sort of A.I. factory, as a hub, as it were. Are we underestimating do you think
the risks that this conflict poses?
SOLIMAN: There are multiple truths in the same time. A, the fundamentals around building compute A.I. infrastructure in the Gulf did not change.
Abundant energy, the willingness to deploy capital, and the political commitment to A.I., and on top of that, your ability to serve A.I. as
tokens to nearby markets.
[10:20:02]
So, those fundamentals are still the same, and we need to bring online 150 gigawatt in the next three years to just keep supply enough for this
massive demand coming out of the lab's physical A.I. robotaxis.
ANDERSON: What does that mean in financial terms? What's 150 gigawatts mean in terms of investment?
SOLIMAN: Let me share this with you. Every gigawatt could mean at least $50 billion. $50 billion. What other markets outside of United States and China
is capable of making that sort of financial commitment.
So, you have that, and on top of that, you also have the fact that yes, the security profile of building data centers in the Gulf changed absolutely. I
mean, the Iranians are saying publicly on Twitter that we are targeting these A.I. infrastructure. That means what? That means you're going to
harden. What hardening means? You bring them on -- you bring them underground. You build them underground. You are making sure that they are
within air defense systems.
And let me take an example from Ukraine. Ukraine, when it was invaded in 2022, had about 23, 24 data centers. Now we're speaking about 57, 58. They
doubled the compute capacity.
So, there is an economic aspect of building A.I., but there is a military aspect of building A.I. How can you actually do military armament, building
defense platforms, next-generation defense platforms that are autonomous. You need major and massive compute commitments to able to work with these
platforms and deploy them at scale. So, there is an economic case for A.I. in the Gulf, but there is a military case for A.I. in the Gulf.
I would make the case that without A.I., Ukraine would have lost the war, and the Gulf today needs A.I. for survival.
ANDERSON: Mohammed, it's good to have you. Always a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed for making time today and sticking with Ukraine, folks.
Thank you.
Still to come, President Trump steps up his criticism of Ukraine's leader, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns that U.S. support for Russia would be a,
"Historic mistake." More on that is after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be escalating his criticism of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Now it's raising
new questions about the future of American support for Kyiv as Ukraine braces for another winter of Russian attacks. At the same time there are
new concerns surrounding a potential meeting between President Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping to
discuss ending the war. I spoke last hour with CNN's Clare Sebastian about what is this developing story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was first reported, Becky, by the Wall Street Journal that it had been an idea they cited sources in saying
that came from President Vladimir Putin in his recent call with Trump that those three leaders should sit down and try to figure out a resolution to
end the war.
[10:25:03]
The Kremlin commented on this today and said that there was a hypothetical meeting that was discussed, but there was no agenda or necessarily a place
or time yet. And Marco Rubio said that there had been talks about such a meeting, but he didn't know if anything had been finalized yet.
So, it's clear that an idea was floated. No, nothing further than that at this point. But it is a massive red flag for Ukraine, right? Because it
smacks of what they've been trying to avoid over the past few years, which is any sign that there would be any attempt to try to reach a peace deal
without them in a war. That frankly, they are fighting for their own right to exist and for self-determination.
So, we got some pretty strong words from Ukraine's foreign minister, who came out saying inviting Putin to such a meeting would feed his appetite.
He said for self-aggrandizement and give him a stature he does not deserve. He is not a global leader, said Andrii Sybiha. He is a war criminal.
So look, to be clear, there is no date set as of yet, the Ukrainian side remains, they say, in constant contact with the U.S. side. But this would
be a propaganda coup for Putin, and one that the Ukrainians would really like to avoid. Becky.
ANDERSON: I want to talk before I let you go about the significance of Ukraine's drone attack on Russia over the weekend and how much the growing
rift between Trump and Zelenskyy is putting sort of future U.S. support for Ukraine at risk at this point?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, so this was a very large Ukrainian drone attack that we saw Saturday into Sunday, particularly targeting St. Petersburg. It's not just
oil infrastructure at this point, although they did target a major oil facility in St. Petersburg. But we're seeing a sort of comprehensive effort
to target the Russian economy. There was a distribution center linked to Ozon, which is one of the big e-commerce companies. There was a data center
for the Russian version of Facebook, VKontakte. The first time we've seen one of their facilities hit.
So, Ukraine is continuing with what it sees as one of its best lines of defense, right? Hitting facilities that fuel the Russian economy behind
enemy lines. What it means for the future of U.S. aid, I think clearly there is concern. But as President Zelenskyy made clear, he's not just
concerned about what happens to U.S. aid for Ukraine. He's concerned, in particular, about how close the U.S. draws to Russia at this point, he's
very worried that that could go further. Becky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, still to come, seven states in seven days, an all-out campaign blitz by President Trump this week. Is he though doing Republicans
a favor or proving to be a political liability? More on that is after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:03]
ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi, and you are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. These are your headlines this hour.
And the French President Emmanuel Macron, vowing that those who have caused a weekend protest will be held accountable. At least two people were killed
across France and some 2,000 arrested as demonstrations over education shortfalls and inflation spiral out of control.
Mr. Macron is promising to hold meetings this week to address protesters' demands. Well, meantime, protests also sweeping across Albania. Student-led
anti-government protests turned violent for a sixth day there, as the Prime Minister Edi Rama, refuses to resign. He has warned the protests will hurt
Albania's chances of joining the European Union.
U.S. President Donald Trump is ramping up his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of not wanting to end the war
with Russia. The remarks are raising fresh concerns over the future of vital U.S. support for Ukraine as it faces another winter of Russian
attacks.
Well, this just in: the U.S. Supreme Court declines to review the Pentagon's decision to throw out plea agreements for three alleged 9/11
conspirators.
Well, this holds an appeal court decision made last year, military trial against the defendants, has been delayed as the U.S. government determines
how to handle their torture at CIA prisons and the question of evidence obtained through torture and whether that is admissible in court.
Well, with just two weeks and a day left until the U.S. midterm elections, and with the control of Congress on the line, President Trump gearing up to
hit the trail for his party, with a campaign blitz across seven states in seven days.
It kicks off tonight in Kansas, followed by stops in North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia, and Michigan. All are key states that
Republicans must win to keep control of the upper chamber, the Senate.
CNN Politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson back with us this hour to discuss this.
And Stephen, Trump's just come off a week of what can only be described as scandal, I guess, in Washington. Starting with Kimberly Guilfoyle, his
ambassador to Greece, and his son's ex-fiance resigning over a corruption scandal, ending with the short-lived tenure of his press secretary, Katie
Zacharia.
Is he doing Republicans a favor at this point, or is he a potential liability? What do you think?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, I think, if you look at the places that you mentioned that Trump will campaign this week:
Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia, and Michigan, all of those states where he won most -- mostly quite easily in
the 2024 election.
The fact that Trump is going back there two years later to try and shore up the Republican vote, I think, answers the question about how much of a
liability he is. He is not spending this week in some other really important states where races are close, for example, Maine or New Hampshire
or Ohio, another state where he won.
So, I think that tells you as much as the polls, which seem to favor Democrats, where Republicans believe this election is right now. It's all
about Trump trying to get turnout up in places where he should be popular, and most of the rallies that he's taking -- that he is doing are gatherings
of his most loyal supporters.
So, he needs those people to come out. I think, to mitigate what a lot of Republicans are worried is going to be a very bad night on November the
3rd.
ANDERSON: -- Calling, and he has turned to name calling and race baiting to try to appeal to voters. That's been on full display in Michigan, where
Abdul El-Sayed is running for Senate to be the first ever elected to the body.
I just want our viewers to hear this attack from Donald Trump over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His name is actually Abdullah Subdalla -- it's Abdullah (INAUDIBLE) Mohamed El Sayed. So, his middle name
is Mohamed. So, I was right, almost.
Oh, by the way, how about that guy? He is a jihadist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Look, I think it's important to just take a moment to talk about this, because, Stephen, this kind of rhetoric, frankly, shouldn't be
normal.
El-Sayed, for his part, retorted that Trump has no problem saying Arab or Muslim names when it comes to the Gulf leaders who have billions of dollars
to offer. I just wonder what your thoughts are on all of this.
[10:34:59]
COLLINSON: Yes. I mean, that's pretty much the lowest form of campaigning you can get: race baiting, highlighting someone's religion, falsely
claiming that a man that was born in the United States is a jihadist, which Trump has been doing as well.
I think, though, we need to remember, this is exactly who President Trump is. This is not just a campaign tactic. Remember, the way he came to
political prominence back in 2014, 2015 was in a false campaign that held that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and was,
therefore, not eligible to be president -- a racist birther campaign.
So, this is consistent. I think tactically, what he is trying to do is to appeal to far-right voters who helped to put him in office in 2016, and
again in 2024. Whether this is going to be successful, however, is another issue.
I think it puts a lot of Republican politicians in a difficult place where they cannot repudiate the president, but therefore, get blamed for,
perhaps, harboring some of the same views, it's a very divisive tactic. But there is certainly a grassroots core of the Republican Party to whom these
appeals.
ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Stephen. A couple of weeks out from the midterms, it is busy out there. Thank you.
And just to close this out, folks, have a listen to another moment from the Michigan campaign trail this weekend. This is how El-Sayed handled a
question in a town hall about whether he condemns the Muslim Brotherhood. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE, MICHIGAN: Sure. Yes, absolutely.
You are asking the question because implicitly you assume that I'll have dual loyalties, right? You assume that somehow, I wouldn't disavow, or that
I'll have some higher order allegiance than the Constitution.
For me, that Constitution is the guiding light.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess I wasn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Right. Well, Elon Musk wants to give every child in the U.S. a piece of the space race. How his new plan would work? That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Elon Musk just announced that next year he would give every child in the U.S. a stake in SpaceX, his $2 trillion aerospace company.
This comes after A.I. company, Anthropic pledged at least five percent of its shares to social causes.
CNN senior business reporter David Goldman is on the story. He is been following this, and he joins us live from New York with the latest.
[10:40:01]
So, two announcements. What can you tell us about them, and why now?
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, yesterday Anthropic said that it's going to create a public benefit fund. It will put about, you
know, five percent of the company's shares into that fund. And then, as the company grows, every 50 percent that it grows, it will put another two
percent in there.
And so, it will start with something around $48 billion. It hasn't said exactly what it's going to do with that and how it's going to be disbursed.
But Elon Musk weighed in and had some ideas and said, well, we should just give money directly to the children.
So, that's what he says he's going to do. He is going to give a share of SpaceX to every American child. That's about 73 million U.S. children, and
at $146 odd a share, that's about a $10-billion-dollar commitment.
And so, you have competing ideas for how this could be done, and we don't really have any details or any promise that it will be done. We have heard
Elon Musk say a lot of things that haven't gotten done before, but, you know, the Trump accounts became a reality where we give shares of companies
to, you know, to children throughout the -- throughout America. That could be one way that Elon Musk could do this.
But really, I think, the reason why we're seeing this is A.I. is incredibly unpopular here. This has become a midterm issue. You were just talking to
Stephen Collinson about some of the big concerns that Americans have during the midterms.
A.I. data centers popping up all over the place is one of those things. And if A.I. companies suddenly have a nice smiling face and saying we are going
to contribute to the. Public good. Well, maybe that will help to smooth over some of those concerns that people have with them.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you.
GOLDMAN: Thanks, Becky.
ANDERSON: Well, a film about Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced Theranos founder, has -- just had the biggest documentary box office opening in over
20 years. It raked him more than $15 million in ticket sales over the weekend. This is a documentary. Here is a clip from the trailer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have never been suspicious that she's ever lied to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still have this weird feeling that there is some things that I'm not seeing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I don't have anything to hide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know what you are feeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know you don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter has seen the documentary, joins us now. So, what did you think of it? What do you make of the whole sort of
phenomenon around this documentary? It's three hours, right?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, there is -- they are three hours long, and there is never been a documentary like it. The word
documentary really doesn't suffice.
This thing defies categorization. You know, there are actresses, there are actors. I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but there is a lot of talk
about this film being up for a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars in a few months. That's how unique and revelatory this project is.
And it's in part because of the access. Nathan Fielder, known to HBO audiences for his experimental comedy, was able to film with Elizabeth
Holmes in the weeks before she went to prison in 2023.
But then, he continued working on the project in secret for a couple of years after, and he eventually was able to meet with her in prison. So,
there is a lot of layers to this project.
And the idea that it's been shrouded in secrecy was one of the many reasons why audiences showed up in a big way to see it over the weekend in New
York, in L.A. and other major cities.
You know, right now, A24, the distributors, only released this in about 800 theaters across the U.S. A pretty limited release. Other films might open
to 2,000 or 3,000 screens in the U.S.
So, it was a limited release, and that's partly why it sold out in many theaters over the weekend, and then, it's going to go wide in the U.S. in
the coming days. So, all this buzz is just going to help it sell even more tickets in the days to come, and then, it will roll out in other markets,
like Australia and the U.K. and other markets in November.
So, this thing is going to have a long burn, and it's benefiting from all the early publicity and attention that it's getting already.
ANDERSON: Yes, and now, I get why they are calling it a movie, and -- or some people are calling it a movie, not a -- not a documentary. Got it.
John Carreyrou, the reporter who first exposed Elizabeth Holmes's fraud, posted this, saying, "It was a ruthless cover-up of a breathtaking fraud,
and she was at the controls. Just a little context for those who have forgotten or didn't follow the original story. By the way, I love the film.
#BestPicture, in my opinion."
[10:45:01]
Look, talk to us about the discourse online, debating whether this movie -- and let's call it that, puts Elizabeth Holmes in a positive or a negative
light?
STELTER: Right. There is definitely times during the movie where you were sympathetic to Holmes, and that's partly what Fielder wants. He wants to
manipulate his viewers, and he does so very successfully.
This film has many layers, like an onion, and the very basic layer is: is she lying or not? Did she commit a giant fraud or not? And the point that
reporters who covered the Theranos case are making is that that's been proven. That she is been convicted, that she is in prison for many reasons.
But then there is other really interesting layers to the movie about the concept of truth, about whether you can ever get to the truth, about
whether a film can get to the truth or not, about whether the filmmaker is lying to you or not, and that's ultimately why people are leaving this
movie and then talking about it for hours on end.
And it's created something really interesting online. All this energy among people who want to talk about it after seeing it, which of course, leads
more people to want to go and see it.
So, you know, for folks who were worried about whether folks would ever go back to the movie theaters after COVID, whether theatrical releases were
going to be a thing of the past, a movie like now, "You Can See Everything" shows that if you have the right combination of topic, and subject, and
director, and cinematographer, and all the rest, when all the elements come together right, you can still create a box office sensation.
ANDERSON: Yes, I just wonder. There is, of course, a big documentary out there about Elon Musk at the moment.
STELTER: Yes.
ANDERSON: So, it's an interesting time for this sort of non-traditional movies, as it were.
I just wonder why you think this one that we have been talking about, and why the Musk documentary, why they are breaking through in such a big way?
STELTER: Well, certainly when it comes to Holmes, it's about that idea of a fraudster who put on a pretty face, who tricked so many people, and who
might be tricking the filmmaker, in this case, 10 years later. You know that's one of the layers of the movie.
Are you and -- are the filmmakers being fooled by Elizabeth Holmes, being suckered like so many other men were before. So, there is that angle.
I think what you point out about Musk is really important too. Alex Gibney's Musk documentary is four hours long. But a topic as big as Elon
Musk deserves that much time.
And both these films will eventually be seen by the biggest audiences when they are on streaming platforms. They are made to be seen on the biggest
screen possible, but they also work really well when you are watching on HBO Max or Netflix or somewhere else many months from now.
And that's really important in this day and age. You know that these films be democratized and that many, many people can see them.
ANDERSON: Good to have you as ever, Brian. Always a pleasure. Thanks, mate, and we will be back with a lot more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Peace in the Middle East. That was the lofty promise just over a year ago at the Gaza Peace Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. Well, I was
on the ground there, as more than 20 world leaders flew in for the afternoon, just hours after the last Israeli hostages were freed, marking
the beginning of the Gaza ceasefire.
Well, at the time, there was a feeling that President Donald Trump's sheer political capital and transactional style of deal making had gotten an
intractable conflict to some kind of breakthrough, even though it was clear the road ahead would be far more complex than how he described it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[10:50:19]
TRUMP: A new and beautiful day is rising, and now the rebuilding begins. The rebuilding is maybe going to be the easiest part. I think, we have done
a lot of the hardest part because the rest comes together. We all know how to rebuild, and we know how to build better than anybody in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Rebuilding has not been easy. It's not even begun yet. So, where are we a year later?
Well, to give you the bottom line of the documents, the summits, and testimonials my team and I have been working through, we are essentially
stuck in the same place because of the same roadblocks.
Hamas has not disarmed and stepped away from power to allow a Palestinian technocratic committee waiting in Cairo to take over governance. Israel is
not withdrawn from Gaza; it has, in fact, entrenched deeper into the enclave, and it has not stopped striking Gaza since last October, killing
more than 1,500 Palestinians, according to health officials there. Meaning, this era has been a ceasefire in name only.
Well, the operators of Trump's board of peace, led by longtime diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, have proposed technical solutions that can inch this
long and arduous process forward step by step, as Mladenov wrote in an op- ed for The National this past October 7th: " The framework exists. Regional partners are engaged. Technical expertise is available. Financial resources
can be mobilized. The question is whether the political will exists," he said.
Well, as we consider the answer, it is worth remembering that the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace took place on February the 19th. And just
nine days later, the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran, and you don't need me to tell you the rest of the turmoil brought onto the world
from there.
Well, now with the Israeli elections eight days away and the U.S. midterms some 15 days away, rebuilding Gaza is likely to fall further on the back
burner, I'm afraid.
And that means the people of Gaza are in limbo. Virtually, the entire population continues to live in tents and makeshift shelters, plagued with
rodent infestations, sewage overflow, and flooding, according to the United Nations.
And right now, the squeeze on Gaza is tightening even more. On Wednesday, Israel suspended commercial goods from entering the enclave, claiming that
Hamas is extorting merchants for a cut of the profits.
According to Haaretz, Mladenov has demanded in response that Israel let the Palestinian technocratic committee into the strip. He argues that the
longer Hamas rules, the more issues like these will compound.
Palestinians warn this takes them back to square one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): After three years of war, you go and shut down the crossing. You are taking us back to square one, to the
initial famine that struck the Gaza Strip. Because we are living day to day, we can't store goods because we have no electricity, no
infrastructure, and none of life's necessities. The crossing must remain open and fully operational every single day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's a shame. What we are going through is a shame, and there is no one stepping in for us, neither from
the outside nor from within. No one is stepping in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: While adding to concerns, the World Food Program now says funding cuts are forcing it to reduce life-saving aid to 500,000 people in Gaza.
Half a million people, just as winter approaches.
And while the Board of Peace has set out a series of programs for the next six months to stimulate Gaza's local economy, build temporary housing,
clear ruble, and more, it faces skepticism from Israelis and Palestinians alike, an international questions over its funding, its insight, its
oversight, and its influence.
Mladenov makes his case by writing, "We can preserve the conditions that repeatedly produce war, or we can begin building the conditions for peace.
There is no neutral ground between those alternatives."
[10:55:04]
Well, it remains to be seen whether the leaders staring down elections just days from now in the broader Sharm El-Sheikh cohort will heed that call.
Well, that brings us to tonight's "PARTING SHOT". An impassioned plea for leaders to take action in Gaza by the former Manchester City manager Pep
Guardiola in his native language.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEP GUARDIOLA, FORMER MANAGER, MANCHESTER UNITED: (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, a dark time in our history. Guardiola calls this. He goes on to say that it's more important than ever to support UNWRA, the United
Nations organization helping Palestinian refugees.
Well, that is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. You can find me online, @BeckyCNN, on Instagram, and X. From the team working with me here,
it's a very good evening. Stay with CNN, though. "ONE WORLD" with my colleagues up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
